Hanako
by DoodleRandom
Summary: Because all flowers must bloom before they can be considered beautiful. A series of vignettes exploring the lives of the kunoichi of Naruto.
1. Single

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Author's Notes: **The first of a series of drabbles that I just wanted to write. Most of them will not be canon but will be set in the Naruto-verse.

**Pairing: **One sided InoShika, ShikaTem.

**Summary: **Ino tells herself that it's fine. She's fine. When she is anything but.

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><p><strong>It's Fine<strong>

Ino is fine with being single. She's gorgeous, with a banging body and sultry blue eyes the color of the sky in May. She has good friends and good team-mates, _although some are one and the same_, and overall a pretty good life. Ino thinks she is too young to be bitter.

So, she tells herself that it doesn't bother her when Shikamaru and Temari spend an extra five minutes supposedly going over "diplomatic" issues and that it's a good thing that Chouji has found a new girl he likes.

She tells herself that_ it's okay_, that _she's fine_, and _men only bring headaches, heartaches, and pain anyway_.

Ino chants this mantra, even as she rims her eyes with kohl and paints her perfectly manicured fingernails a heart stopping electric blue, before she slips on overly high heels and a too-short dress.

_It doesn't matter that she's woken up in more than one rich boy's hotel suite with nothing more than white linen sheets and a feeling of regret crawling up her stomach._

She could have been wholesome once, she thinks. If she had someone to love and cherish her. If the one she wanted wasn't in the arms of another. Ino bitterly muses that his children will be a handful; geniuses with giant fans.

Their wedding invitation comes in the mail, not unexpectedly she thinks. She knows _has known, will always_ know him _best_ after all. _They've been together since their days in disposable diapers._

The silver embossed parchment is thick and regal but, Ino expects nothing less for the wedding of the Kazekage's _only_ sister. Ino stares at the envelope, turning it around in her slender hands, musing. Now, would be the opportune time to take an undercover mission, perhaps as the concubine or plaything of a high powered official. She has always excelled at those jobs.

(Many a feudal lord remembers electric blue nail polish and the best blowjob they ever had. Too bad for a majority of them, it is also the _last_ memory they ever had.)

Ino knows that she is _expected_ at the wedding, that it's only _proper_. After all, she is his best friend/teammate/familysortof. But she will never be his lover and the thought makes Ino's heart clench with an almost phantom pain. _Ino will not tempt herself with things she cannot have._

Half a minute more of consideration.

Ino tears the silver invitation in half and casually lets it float into the trash as she reaches for her bottle of electric blue nail polish.

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><p>Oh, do please review! :)<p> 


	2. Fight

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Author's Notes: **A new style that I fiddled with and wanted to share (and get input on).

**Pairing: **Sasusaku if you squint, but I promise it's there! :)

**Summary:** Sasuke has fought many an opponent but none have been able to catch his attention like she can.

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><p><strong>Fight<strong>

She smelled of something sheer, diaphanous and airy. Reminiscent of chiffon at its finest; her hair dancing rapid little pirouettes in the air before falling limply to hang at the edges of her face.

Red eyes dusted with black designs locked onto verdant prismatic green. And all that rang in their ears was the screeching call of steel upon stainless blood-stained steel. His calloused fingers grip the knife with mute dexterity as he holds her hands at a standstill.

She is defiant. Unyielding. And so unlike the puerile sapling of less-than-fond memory.

"Leave" The words like stone flee him in a rumble.

Her pomegranate lips purse delicately in reply as she draws her eyebrows down into a fearless gaze.

Her confidence is titillating. Scintillating. Mesmerizing.

He is blinded.

And like a flash, the moment is over. She pushes back against his grip and leaps away to regroup. An audacious, mocking, counterfeit of a grin graces her feline features. She has never been more ready for this moment.

The breeze unsettles her hair and ruffles his. Metronome reset.

And another dance begins.

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><p>Reviews would be lovely~ 3<p> 


	3. Change

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

**Author's Notes: **So I wrote this while listening to the soundtrack from Spirit and uh...this is the result. LOL

**Pairing: **Hinata (just Hinata)

**Summary: **Hinata is no longer afraid.

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><p><strong>Hokage Moutain<strong>

Hinata sits on the top of Hokage mountain.

The sun is rising in the distant peaks and the view is magnificent.

The glory of the new born morning is reflected in her opalescent eyes and she breathes deep.

The air tastes crisp and clean. Biting.

And like a foal coming into the earth, she rises on wobbly legs and wipes the dust off her hands.

The world comes into focus. Bright, glaring, and brilliant. Her heart is rising too, full and inflated. With what she cannot say but she is holding her head up.

Up and level. And straight. Ram-rod.

Change.

The sun is peaking; the sky swirls her gossamer dress of a thousand jewels. The darkness is receding.

It cannot stand in the face of such bright certainty.

Hinata stands tall.

She is a kunoichi.

And she will not falter.

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><p>Reviews would be lovely~ 3<p> 


	4. Far

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Author's Notes:** Written while watching a sunset...which made me melancholic which lead to this rather emo little piece.

**Pairing: **None (Guess who the kunoichi is!~)

**Summary:** And when all the glitter of childhood fades, all that's left is what could have been.

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><p><strong>The Far Wall<strong>

She sits on her bed and watches the golden glow of the setting sun paint patterns on the far wall of her bedroom. The house is silent. She fiddles with her hands before bringing her legs up to her chest and pulling them close in some pathetic attempt at comfort. Her heart aches, with a phantom weight that makes it too heavy to live but too light to die. So she is stuck in this limbo. And so tired. She is so tired.

Her glimmering gaze then turns towards the doorpost, notches in the frame mark her growth. Four feet. Five feet. Five feet and one inch. There are no more notches after that. The woman sighs. Long and heavy but the weight does not lift.

What happened to the girl who thought she could be the best? To the girl who believed that she could do anything. Had she truly settled so low? The feelings of failure, fear, and anxiety quake endlessly in the vicinity of her heart and leave bruises that never seem to heal.

She looks at the patterns on the wall again. They almost hit the floor. The last blaze of glory before the sun sets. Like the last hurrah before a death. Like how her patients always precede death with one last gasping desperate breath. She thinks it should be human nature to fight. To fight for what she knows she needs and wants. But she is so tired of fighting and she is so tired of living. She cradles her head in her knees and the tears leak out.

The room grows dark as the sun finally sets and the last vestiges of pink twilight begin fading into navy blue evening.

She feels like a baby. Stupid and weak and helpless. She doesn't even have enough energy to turn on the lights in her darkened room. She is so tired of living. But she is not brave enough to end it, even though she knows how. So she goes through each day, miserable and tired, hoping for some quick ending to put her out of her misery.

She prays for it sometimes. And sometimes she curses her heart for continuing to beat, for continuing to function even though it hurts so much. She has no more zest. A husk of who she once was. As if her spiritual body has long decayed and disintegrated.

And so she sits, alone on her pink bedspread-that she bought to cheer herself up but it doesn't ever work-and she sighs, long and lonely, into the silence of the night.

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><p>Reviews would be very much welcomed! 3<p> 


	5. Kiss

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Author's Notes:** Written after some introspection after Neji's death

**Pairing: NejiTen**

**Summary: **Because she always gives her all.

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><p>Some wives kiss their husbands for luck. Some wives kiss their husbands to wish them a safe journey. And some wives kiss their husbands to ensure a safe return.<p>

But not Tenten.

There is nothing tender about her marriage. Steel and blood, sweat and tears maybe, but nothing tender.

She doesn't kiss him to ensure _anything_ because in their profession, nothing is "for sure."

Not their anniversary, not their Friday night dinners, and sometimes, not even the next morning.

So, _no_, she doesn't kiss him for such frivolous reasons.

She kisses him because this might be her last goodbye, she kisses him because this might be her last chance to tell him how much he means to her, and she kisses him because this might be the last bit of herself that she will give.

In their profession, in the small pocket that they have carved out for themselves, she does not have the luxury of saving it for tomorrow. Not her love, not her time, and certainly not her actions.

So she kisses him hard and desperate. Each time. Everytime.

And when his opalescent eyes widen just a little during her kisses, she secretly smiles inside.

Because if she has to go into that good night, she certainly isn't going to leave with a whisper.

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><p>Reviews are much welcomed! :)<p> 


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